Before coming to Moravian College fall 2010, I attended Washington Township High School in Sewell, NJ.  Growing up, I had always had a knack for Math.  I never had to study nor did I ever have trouble understanding a topic.  Unfortunately, some of my friends did not have that knack for it.  To help them out, I said that I would tutor them in math.  I worked with my friends Abby and Chelsea during my senior year of High School.  I tutored Abby in Geometry and Chelsea in Algebra 2.  They said that I had helped them a lot and they received better grades as the year went along.  During my time at Washington Township, I was a part of various organizations such as: Symphony Orchestra, tennis, French Club, National Honor Society, French National Honor Society, and Tri-M Music Honor Society.  I was also nominated and trained to be a Peer Facilitator.  A Peer Facilitator was a person who acted as a mediator between two students.  Basically, when two students requested to have a mediator listen to their problems, they would contact me or any of the fellow mediators to listen in on their conversation.  This was a healthy and more productive way to solve problems without using foul language or violence. 

When I was a freshman, I had my first field experience my spring semester along with my Culture, Community, and Diversity: Introduction to Critical Pedagogy Education 160 class with Doctor DesJardin.  My observation was at Liberty High School in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  This was a great placement to have since I want to teach high school.  When I saw that I was going to be observing here, I could not believe it because my mother went to Liberty High School.  It is quite amazing that I was going to be walking in the hallways that my mother used to walk in.  I was placed in an eleventh and twelfth grade trigonometry classroom.  It was very diverse classroom that consisted of various ethnicities such as Caucasian, Hispanic, and Black.  Since this was my first experience, I mostly observed the class and students.  On some days, I would give extra help to students that needed it.  I also did some one-on-one tutoring with one of the students.  I really enjoyed this because it was great to get to know the student more and he said I helped him a lot.  It was one of the best feelings I had in that field experience.  I also got to observe my co-op’s advanced pre-calculus class that consisted of mostly juniors.  This was very different from the other class because they were smarter students and it was hardly a diverse classroom.  With this class, I did not have as much interaction with the students because they did not need as much assistance as the other class.  Towards the last four weeks of my field, I also had the opportunity to observe a freshman inclusion classroom.  This was very interesting because if I did not know that it was an inclusion class, I would never think it was an inclusion class.  Taking a first glimpse at the students, I would have never guessed that any of them had some sort of learning disability.  This was a great experience to have because it gave me an idea of what teaching an inclusion class is like.  This is especially great to have because there is a good chance that I will be teaching an inclusion class.    

This past fall semester, I had my second field experience along with my Adolescent Psychology Education 130 class with Doctor Dilendik.  My second observation was at Lincoln Elementary School in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  When I saw that I was being placed in an elementary school, I was actually very excited.  It was nice to have a change in the type of school because it was interesting to see the differences between a high school and an elementary school.  For my observation, I got to sit in on a fourth grade classroom.  This class was similar to my previous class at Liberty High School because they were also very diverse.  During this experience, I did various tasks in the classroom.  I helped organize books, graded papers, assisted my co-op with other errands, and helped out some of the students one-on-one.  Like my previous field experience, there was one student that I spent a lot of one-on-one time with.  I helped her with different math topics that the class was learning.  I loved this class so much.  Every morning, my co-op would do a routine where she fist-bumped every student as they walked into the classroom.  This was great because it started out the students’ day on a positive note.  When they first saw that I was observing their classroom, they were beyond excited to meet me.  They loved that I was a college student and asked me all kinds of questions.  One great characteristic about the age of fourth graders is that they are in that inquisitive stage.  They love asking a bunch of questions and to be interactive in the class.  There was so much positive energy that every class was a joy to attend.  I truly miss this class so much and I hope that I can go back there sometime in the future.